Review: ‘Mozza at Home’ and ‘Eat in My Kitchen’

Conventional wisdom has it that when you’re entertaining, it’s best to focus on the tried and true, not something new that might result in emergency takeout.

With “Mozza at Home,” by the Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton with Carolynn Carreño, you’re not likely to attempt a trial run since most of the recipes serve six or more. But many of the dishes on the elaborate, inviting and creative menus in the book can be made in advance — they’re often designed to be served at room temperature — so you have a chance to plan and tweak before the doorbell rings. Still, they are best for experienced cooks, not novices, packed as they are with devilish details.

I can vouch for the chicken thigh recipes, pan-roasted and browned at the last minute. I’m less convinced by the shoulder lamb chops, described as “pleasantly chewy,” not what I’d offer guests. Braising whole bunches of celery to go on a platter is a great idea, as is rolling ribbons of zucchini to thread onto skewers. And the recipe for devil’s food cake rings is a keeper, quick to make and as fine for cupcakes as for rings needing special molds. However, having guests frost their own pieces of cake, as Ms. Silverton suggests, makes me envision gridlock at the buffet table.

A preview is easier with “Eat in My Kitchen: To Cook, to Bake, to Eat and to Treat,” by Meike Peters, since almost all the recipes serve two to four. That said, I found a great many that were easily doubled or tripled, like delicious endives glazed with balsamic butter, and cod in parchment with ramps and red onions.

Ms. Peters, a blogger who lives in Berlin, draws on a mix of German and Mediterranean influences. That includes Malta, where she has family, inspiring the addition of orange peel in a bittersweet chocolate Bundt cake and blood oranges in a steaming bowl of mussels.

Her sandwiches, also scalable, include one made with roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic: easy for lunch, suitable for hors d’oeuvres on little toast rounds and alluring when assembled on long ciabatta breads for a party.